NDP unaware of Henry's hire for safe-supply study
B.C. Premier David Eby appears to have been blindsided by the revelation that the provincial health officer commissioned a report on the “economics of safe supply” from an American researcher who has called for the restigmatization of drug use.
B.C. United mental-health and addictions critic Elenore Sturko alleged during question period Monday that the government had commissioned a “secret” report by Jonathan Caulkins on the prescription opioid program. She pressed the government to immediately release it.
It was revealed Tuesday that Dr. Bonnie Henry commissioned the report as part of her continuing review of the safe supply program and concerns over diversion of drugs.
B.C.'s program to provide prescription opioids as an alternative to potentially fatal toxic drugs has been criticized amid concerns that some of the government-provided hydromorphone isn't being taken by the patient but sold for street drugs or ending up in the hands of youth, becoming a gateway to harder drugs.
However, harm-reduction advocates and public health officials say there's no evidence that the safe supply program is fuelling new addictions.
Caulkins specializes in systems analysis of problems relating to drugs, crime, terror, violence and prevention, and has researched the legalization of cannabis.
He is the H. Guyford Stever University professor of operations research and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College in Pittsburgh.
Caulkins and Keith Humphreys, a psychiatrist and addictions specialist who advised both the Bush and Obama administrations on public drug policy, co-authored an opinion piece in The Atlantic titled “Destigmatizing drug use has been a profound mistake, say scientists.”
“Society is again learning via hard experience that drugs are dangerous,” they wrote in the December 2023 article.
“Efforts to destigmatize drug use may delay this learning, draw out the epidemic, invite new cohorts to try hard drugs and create more addicted people.”
That position is the exact opposite to the one taken by the B.C. NDP that launched a provincial safe supply program in March 2020 in an effort to stem the tide of overdose deaths.
The government, buoyed by recommendations from Henry and former chief coroner Lisa Lapointe, also pushed for the three-year experiment to decriminalize hard drugs, in part to reduce the stigma related to drug use in the hopes that people seek out medical help.
When contacted by Postmedia News on Tuesday, Caulkins wouldn't talk about the substance of the report because he's under a confidentiality agreement.
Asked about Caulkins' work during an unrelated news conference Tuesday, Eby said he first heard Caulkins had been tapped to complete a report during question period Monday.
Eby later learned that Henry commissioned the report from Caulkins “as part of a larger piece of work that she continues to do on the toxic drug crisis.” Eby stressed that Henry is independent and it's within her powers to commission a report without telling the government.
Although, he didn't sound happy about it.
“There are occasionally moments of frustration like (Monday) when the (provincial health) officer is doing work that we're not aware of, but I certainly know that Dr. Henry intends to be sharing her findings of this work.”
Henry wasn't made available for an interview Tuesday, but said in a statement that she commissioned “a research paper looking at some of the societal impacts of pharmaceutical alternatives,” also known as safe supply.
Caulkins provided an “economic analysis to help guide appropriate monitoring of the impacts of a safe supply program,” she said.
She said Caulkins' research paper “is not an assessment or evaluation of B.C.'s approach to prescribed alternatives” and his views don't reflect those of her office.
Henry's research into the safe supply program follows a report released in February that backed the B.C. NDP's prescription opioid alternative program and called for it to be expanded.
Henry acknowledged that some hydromorphone pills are being diverted and ending up in the hands of youth, but said the “extent and impacts (of diversion) are unknown.”
Health Minister Adrian Dix told reporters he's familiar with Caulkins' previous research, but wasn't aware that he had been commissioned by Henry's office.
“It's quite normal that Dr. Henry would seek out expert advice and people don't all have to agree all the time,” Dix said.
Henry said she will make the review public, as well as the research that supported the review, once her office has briefed the government.
Sturko speculated that since Caulkins has conducted extensive research on marijuana legalization, Henry tapped him to look into the legalization of hard drugs.
Henry wrote a report in 2019 called Stopping the Harm, which called on the federal government to “move toward regulating access to currently controlled drugs with a focus on harm reduction.”
Dix, however, said the report wasn't about legalizing controlled substances.